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The Derby Man
Series · 6 books · 1975-2014

Books in series

The Derby Man book cover
#1

The Derby Man

1975

Darby Buckingham was an unlikely candidate for western frontier life. From his round-toed shoes to his derby hat, he was a man of culture, a creature of comfort, who liked his gourmet restaurants and expensive cigars. The short, stocky New Yorker made a fortune writing dime novels about the old west. Now he was out west to do some research for his next novel, little suspecting that he would be joining sheriff Zeb Cather in a manhunt for the ruthless Raton Brothers, learning firsthand about frontier justice and frontier heroism.
Showdown at Snakegrass Junction book cover
#2

Showdown at Snakegrass Junction

2014

The hat fit him, the tin star didn't. But when his pal, Sheriff Zeb Cather, was taken out of action, Darby Buckingham started playing lawman to the town of Running Springs, Wyoming. And the town sure needed him now, the gun-slick honchos of neighboring Snakegrass Junction were determined to blast Running Springs out of existence. Darby was a man of fierce loyalties and fiercer courage. But it would take a lot more than both to keep a terrified town alive when all hell busted loose in the Showdown at Snakegrass Junction.
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#3

Mustang Fever

1980

Darby Buckingham is a long way from a prude, but he's offended mightily when a herd of mustangs are horribly mistreated by their captives...a gang of hard men who only see profit from their sale. Things go from bad to worse when a beautiful woman takes offense...and Darby intervenes. Sometimes a fella just has to stand up for what's right...no matter how much lead flies and blood spills. Another page turning action adventure from Western Writer's of America Spur award winning author Gary McCarthy.
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#4

The Pony Express War

1980

Look sharp, hit hard - that's the Derby Man's style. He's a fast-moving mountain of muscle who throws himself into the thick of the West's greatest adventures - like the Pony Express, a grueling 2,000 mile race through hell. The pace and terrain are deadly enough but vengeful Paiute warriors and murdering saboteurs led by a sadistic giant threaten to turn the route into a trail of blood. Then one man with the guts to save the Pony Express stepped forward - the Derby Man. It's the Derby Man and the glory-riders in a race against Indians, treachery and death.
Explosion at Donner Pass book cover
#5

Explosion at Donner Pass

1981

The thundering engines of the Central Pacific are stalled in the quest to conquer the mighty Sierras. Only a mountain of a man, Darby Buckingham, could pound the railroad through the granite walls of trouble. Atop sheer rock cliffs just a death plunge away from the surging river a thousand feet below, braving punishing cold, Darby must lay down track, foot by hard-blasted foot, with a construction crew that is threatening to tear itself apart with vicious fighting. But as they climb toward the notorious Donner Pass they face the most brutal challenge - an avalanche of sabotage and murder...
The Rail Warriors book cover
#9

The Rail Warriors

2008

Darby Buckingham, the West's hardest hitting, toughest fighting, fastest thinking hero, now charges into what threatens to be his most unbeatable challenge: helping the Union Pacific win the great railroad race across the continent. With time running out, the Derby Man must overcome ferocious Sioux and Cheyenne, brutal weather and terrain, the treacherous Missouri River and the toughest collection of men ever assembled to lay track. And if that isn't enough, then he must face the most dreaded danger of all - sabotage!

Author

Gary McCarthy
Gary McCarthy
Author · 28 books

Gary McCarthy is the author of fourteen American historical novels and thirty-four westerns published by many of New York's major publishing houses. He has over three million books in print and continues to research and write his Canyon Country novels. Growing up with horses and living in California, Nevada and Arizona, Gary is well suited to writing about the American West. He received his B.S. degree in Animal Science and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics. He has a keen interest in Native American cultures, especially the Hopi, Navajo, Havasupai and Haulapai who live in Northern Arizona. Gary and his wife Jane live in Arizona and have often ridden horses and hiked in the Kaibab and Coconino National Forests. Gary is always looking for new stories set in the American West and considers the research to be among his most favorite pursuits.

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The Derby Man